Page 20 of Game On

“Ice cream?” Dawn asks. “My treat.”

I nod and start the car again. “No baseball game this time.”

“You got it.” She says it so quickly I wonder if her infatuation with Alec is over, or if she just feels so bad for me there’s no way she would subject me to do anything that might push me over the edge today.

I hope both is true. Alec doesn’t deserve her. At the same time, I know I’m being somewhat hypocritical. None of the Ballers deserve me, but that doesn’t mean I stop thinking about being part of their inner circle. For some reason, I’ve always felt like I was meant to be there. I’ve just now found the strength enough to pursue it, even if I have to force it down their throats.

12

As has become our routine, I pick Dawn up on the way to school and then park a block away. The air is getting cooler. This shit about parking further away just because I’m not allowed in the student parking lot is going to get old really quick. My calves ache as we make the trek. I practiced layups this morning right before breakfast. I know the shit that’s coming, and I want to be as prepared as possible. No one is going to make tryouts easy on me. Not that I would expect them to, but I have a sinking suspicion they’re going to be extra hard this year. I need to be in topnotch shape, which is why I told Dawn no more ice cream until I make the team. You would have thought I told her her kitten died.

When I walk through the school this morning, there seems to be a new dynamic. People are looking at me like I’ve piqued their interest. In the middle of the main hall, there’s a banner with all three potentials names on it. A surge of pride makes all the aching in my calves disappear. Some guys even say hey as we pass in the hall. It makes my skin warm, and I can only hope the era of me being looked at like I’m shit is gone. I usually save anxiety for game day, but RHS with these assholes is riddled with it.

“Homecoming is tonight,” Dawn says as we turn the corner toward my locker. I know somewhere deep inside, she was truly hoping Alec would ask her. Now that she’s chosen sides, there’s no chance in hell of that happening.

“So I see,” I tell her, looking at all the signs that suddenly went up overnight. Before, there was nothing but sign-ups signs, but now that that’s over with, we can talk about the dance tonight and the football game tomorrow. It seems so odd that most other schools are obsessed with football. At RHS, football is basketball’s ugly stepsister. The team isn’t even that bad here. I mean, they’re not good, but they’re not terrible either.

“I’m going to ask someone today,” she says.

I swing my gaze toward her for a second. “Yeah?” My stomach turns when I think she means Alec. That’s who she’s talked about since I’ve known her. “Who?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to go alone, you know?” When I don’t say anything, her eyes widen. “You do plan on going, don’t you?”

I honestly hadn’t thought about it. I’ve only had a one-track mind since I got here. Basketball, basketball, basketball…Rock Ballers.

“I’ll make the answer easy for you,” she says, raising her eyebrows in a challenge. “Your answer is yes.”

She looks like she means business, so I nod. Of course I’ll do this for her. She’s practically my only friend. Tiff still hasn’t written me back, and not that I expected to hear anything from Andrew, I kind of thought I would.

As we get to my locker, I have to double-check the number. There’s a note taped to the outside. I pick it up and read over what’s written on the inside. It’s addressed to Tessa or else I would’ve sworn someone left it on the wrong locker. It reads,Saw you yesterday. I’m impressed. Meet me by the corner stairwell after lunch?

It’s definitely written in a male’s chicken scratch handwriting. When I look over at Dawn, she’s biting her lower lip with wide eyes. It looks as if she’s about to burst with excitement. I have to admit, I feel a bit of relief that maybe things are starting to die down here. A guy wants to meet me by the stairwell? I can’t help but beat back the butterflies as they make themselves known again.

“It was the skirt,” Dawn says, referencing the outfit I wore yesterday for sign-ups. “Not to mention that you looked sexy as fuck when you signed that sheet yesterday. He was probably there. Guys say they don’t like overly confident girls, but they do.”

She’s forgetting one key point. “If he was there, he saw the Ballers eyeing me like they wanted to pound me into the earth. This guy wouldn’t dare ask me out. You know they run the school, and they’ve already told everyone to stay away from me.”

“Maybe people are getting sick of their shit.” She just shrugs when I eye her. “What?” she challenges me again. “They can’t seriously think they’ll run the school forever. I’m telling you. Something changed yesterday when you signed that sheet. Everyone knew they wouldn’t want you to and you just did it anyway.”

“I’m not scared of them,” I tell her, and I’m no. Really. “They can’t possibly do any worse to me than they already have.”

She takes the note from my hands and reads it again. “Exactly. Maybe the guy saw you and feels the same way.”

I narrow my gaze at her. “You don’t strike me as the ‘believe in fairy tales’ type.” Maybe a Cinderella in biker clothes, but…

“Are you kidding me? We moved here so we could get the house with the white picket fence. If that doesn’t say fairy tale, what does?” She stops for a minute. “Oh, right. I forgot who I was speaking to. Miss I have a pool and a full basketball court.”

I relive yesterday when we both heard my parents fighting. I knew how bad Dawn wanted to see my house, which was why I wanted to take her. At this point, who knew when she’d be able to come over. By the time I got back home though, there was no evidence of anything happening. Not even my father. Or my mother for that matter. She’d went to bed early, not bothering to ask me about Sign-Ups, though I suppose she got the gist of that from my father.

“Sorry,” Dawn says. She looks at the ground and hikes her backpack higher on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her. Then, I shove the note in my locker and grab my things for the day.

Homeroom and the first few periods are filled with my flaming red cheeks. Guys are outright staring at me. I’ve tripped four times already because I feel like I’m in the spotlight for some reason. And because I don’t have a jersey on, it feels out of place. Wrong even. I’ve always tried to keep a low profile because of who I am. I’ve never wanted things handed to me. I’ve never wanted any special attention. Hell, I’ve gone so far as to leave my last name off things just because I didn’t want better treatment than others. I even asked my parents if I could change my last name after camp once when the snide remarks got really bad.

I take slow and careful steps to the lunch table that has now become mine and Dawn’s regular spot. The Ballers are already at their table, and I don’t want to trip and humiliate myself. When I glance that way, I notice Matt and Shawn, the two other sign-ups, are sitting at the table next to theirs surrounded by second and third stringers along with some football players, too. They might as well have a billboard over them saying Jock Section. For a split second, I wonder if I should go sit with them, but then I come back to my senses. Matt and Shawn must have gotten an invitation and since I haven’t, I shouldn’t press my luck. Not that I’d want to leave Dawn anyway.

I sit in my normal seat. As soon as I open my mouth to say something to Dawn, a girl with a high ponytail sits down next to me. She doesn’t have a tray in her hands, and she’s angling toward me like she doesn’t plan on staying forever. Her blue eyes practically dance when I meet her gaze with my own. She’s slender and tall. Very pretty with that toned look that only comes from going to the gym. Some girls think looking muscular is ugly, but I don’t. It shows hard work and wanting something more than the stereotypical. With a quick flick of her gaze behind me, she leans in close. “I just wanted to say that you fucking rock. I hope you kill it at tryouts.” She leans away, a smile on her lips. “It would be nice to see guys squirm around here.”

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